July 6, 2013: Piraeus
I made plans to get off the ship with James and Meghna today, but we all kind of wanted to sleep in a bit. I ended up getting up somewhat early to get breakfast, then went back to bed for a while until Meghna was ready. I called James and the three of us got off around lunchtime. We didn’t really want to go to Athens today since we were only off for half a day, so we decided to walk around Piraeus. There’s not really any touristy things to do there, so we mostly wandered around, looked in shops, walked in a pet store and looked at all the puppies, bunnies, and fish there. After a while, we decided we’d just stop at a café and get internet for a while since we’d seen a lot on the way into town. On the way back however, most of them were closed. We did manage to find one and spent a while checking things online and chatting before heading back to the ship before all aboard.
There wasn’t too much time until dinner, so I read and deleted pictures until time to head upstairs. Dinner was okay, I remembered (for once) that the pizza line at the Aft Pool is open most of the day, so I ended up getting pizza instead of the Mediterranean Cuisine that had taken over the Lido.
Our theme tonight was Un-Birthday party. Odd to put an entirely crafty night right after an entirely active night I think. The kids decorated cut out birthday hats, candles, play tape the candle to the cake, and played a game called “islands.” They were definitely not as interested in it as they have been other theme nights. I understand their lack of enthusiasm though. At least everyone enjoyed snack: cookies and frosting!
I met up with James and Linda in the OB and we spent most of the night looking through Linda’s pictures from the Eurodam in the Baltic. She had her camera because she’d taken pictures of the show tonight, a ballroom dance couple, so I saw a few of those too. It was fun for the three of us to compare stories about places we’ve been and things we’ve done.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
celebrating july 4th in European waters
July 4, 2013: Sea Day
My second 4th of July on ships. This one was definitely more interesting. Last year, it was kind of ignored on the ship, but here, I got an invitation to attend a party in the Northern Lights followed by “all American buffet” in the OB. That was interesting, but more on that later.
The morning shift was good. We played games, played with model magic and went to the sports deck. One girl was there 15 minutes early, which was odd, but only about 10 of the tweens came in total, so that made the morning easier. They all had fun and didn’t want to leave when we closed at 11:30. I had a somewhat quick lunch, then back to work for the afternoon. We had a lot more kids come this afternoon. They all were pretty happy with pathfinders, and the craft activities, however a few of them were not happy with me when we did Gaga Ball. About half the group had played before, either yesterday or back home, but half had no idea how to play. While I was explaining the rules, a few of the boys who knew how to play already kept interrupting me, even knocking the ball out of my arms. He did stop finally when I threatened to not let him play. After that, they generally played nice with each other.
Dinner was quick, then it was back to work once again for Spy Night! After making spy IDs, we went on to the scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt took over 45 minutes; that was unexpected. For some reason, they just had a really hard time finding the clues and then realizing that we were serious about the rules about finding the clues first, then the answers. By the time they got to their spy gadgets, they were all very frustrated with their teams, so we made sure that didn’t take long. After, I did Chinese Numbers with them. Some had been on cruises before so they remembered the trick, and they were very bad about not telling it the rest of the group. It was an interesting night overall, but I think once they got over frustrations they were all pretty happy.
Once we superSan-ed, we all got ready and went to the Northern Lights for the 4th of July party. It was pretty fun, most people were standing around drinking though, so Meghna and I didn’t stay too long. We went to the OB for the “all American buffet,” there were a ton of people there, and some of the entertainment department had decorated, so the OB looked really cool with stars everywhere. They had punch, hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs and sandwiches. It was by far the biggest crowd I’ve seen at the OB. I hung out with Linda, James (a photographer), and Regina most of the night.
My second 4th of July on ships. This one was definitely more interesting. Last year, it was kind of ignored on the ship, but here, I got an invitation to attend a party in the Northern Lights followed by “all American buffet” in the OB. That was interesting, but more on that later.
The morning shift was good. We played games, played with model magic and went to the sports deck. One girl was there 15 minutes early, which was odd, but only about 10 of the tweens came in total, so that made the morning easier. They all had fun and didn’t want to leave when we closed at 11:30. I had a somewhat quick lunch, then back to work for the afternoon. We had a lot more kids come this afternoon. They all were pretty happy with pathfinders, and the craft activities, however a few of them were not happy with me when we did Gaga Ball. About half the group had played before, either yesterday or back home, but half had no idea how to play. While I was explaining the rules, a few of the boys who knew how to play already kept interrupting me, even knocking the ball out of my arms. He did stop finally when I threatened to not let him play. After that, they generally played nice with each other.
Dinner was quick, then it was back to work once again for Spy Night! After making spy IDs, we went on to the scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt took over 45 minutes; that was unexpected. For some reason, they just had a really hard time finding the clues and then realizing that we were serious about the rules about finding the clues first, then the answers. By the time they got to their spy gadgets, they were all very frustrated with their teams, so we made sure that didn’t take long. After, I did Chinese Numbers with them. Some had been on cruises before so they remembered the trick, and they were very bad about not telling it the rest of the group. It was an interesting night overall, but I think once they got over frustrations they were all pretty happy.
Once we superSan-ed, we all got ready and went to the Northern Lights for the 4th of July party. It was pretty fun, most people were standing around drinking though, so Meghna and I didn’t stay too long. We went to the OB for the “all American buffet,” there were a ton of people there, and some of the entertainment department had decorated, so the OB looked really cool with stars everywhere. They had punch, hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs and sandwiches. It was by far the biggest crowd I’ve seen at the OB. I hung out with Linda, James (a photographer), and Regina most of the night.
katakolon
July 5, 2013: Katakolon
I got up early-ish this morning to get my key fixed, since Meghna and my keys have both been de-actived every time the other gets activated. After I got that worked out, I got some breakfast before calling James since we’d agreed to get off and wander around Katakolon today. We were off by 10:30 and weren’t hungry enough yet to get lunch and wifi, so we walked down the main road and eventually found a beach. At the beach, we collected some seashells, splashed around in the water, sat on the sand and talked for a while before we decided to head back towards town. Once we were back in town, we walked around the shops for a bit, then got some lunch. The wifi wasn’t working, but the lunch was good at least. After that, we ended up sitting on the pier talking for a while because we didn’t want to get back on the ship quite yet and had a while before all aboard time.
I took an unintentional nap the rest of the afternoon, then had a light dinner, since I wasn’t really hungry after lunch yet. Tonight’s theme was Sports of all Sorts. We went up to the Sports Deck and played lots of games there with the younger kids.
I got up early-ish this morning to get my key fixed, since Meghna and my keys have both been de-actived every time the other gets activated. After I got that worked out, I got some breakfast before calling James since we’d agreed to get off and wander around Katakolon today. We were off by 10:30 and weren’t hungry enough yet to get lunch and wifi, so we walked down the main road and eventually found a beach. At the beach, we collected some seashells, splashed around in the water, sat on the sand and talked for a while before we decided to head back towards town. Once we were back in town, we walked around the shops for a bit, then got some lunch. The wifi wasn’t working, but the lunch was good at least. After that, we ended up sitting on the pier talking for a while because we didn’t want to get back on the ship quite yet and had a while before all aboard time.
I took an unintentional nap the rest of the afternoon, then had a light dinner, since I wasn’t really hungry after lunch yet. Tonight’s theme was Sports of all Sorts. We went up to the Sports Deck and played lots of games there with the younger kids.
venice day 3
July 3, 2013: Venice day 3
I had a lazy morning. I had to go by crew office to get my key card re-activated, and of course I had breakfast, but other than that I didn’t do anything. I went up to Club HAL to get the wristbands for the passenger drill and ended up hanging out with some of my tweens there until the drill. Kristin and I each took a side and made sure all the kids had a wristband. One family confused me a bit. I was on the odd side with green wristbands, but these kids had an even number red wristband. The grandmother didn’t seem to understand the fact that the kids needed to either be at the lifeboat with their parents (the number on their wristband) or have the wristband for the lifeboat with their grandparents. So confusing, my main question is why aren’t they all in the same boat!?
As soon as the drill ended, Kristin and I were in the Lido getting lunch, followed by all the passengers because it was about 12:15. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as I thought it’d be since the drill was at 11:45, an odd time for it because it’s the middle of lunch! It was still pretty crowded though, so we teamed up in getting food and drinks so we didn’t have to wait in so many lines, and so we could get to work on time.
This afternoon’s session was good. The kids were really into the games, and now there’s a few more boys so it’s more even. I keep wondering how one of the girls is 10 when she acts 5 or 6. She looks about 6 as well. She’s extremely impatient and doesn’t want to do any of the activities we plan, then complains about being bored. Not quite sure how to handle that just yet. About 20 kids showed up and stayed most of the afternoon. “Pineapples” definitely kept their attention for a while; a few of them actually managed to come up with about 70 words, out of the 130 or so we know! I was impressed.
We had Lights, Camera, Action tonight. We started off with the usual free time, then went on to make stars and play Celebrity Heads. That pretty much kept them all occupied until the end of the night, which was nice.
I had a lazy morning. I had to go by crew office to get my key card re-activated, and of course I had breakfast, but other than that I didn’t do anything. I went up to Club HAL to get the wristbands for the passenger drill and ended up hanging out with some of my tweens there until the drill. Kristin and I each took a side and made sure all the kids had a wristband. One family confused me a bit. I was on the odd side with green wristbands, but these kids had an even number red wristband. The grandmother didn’t seem to understand the fact that the kids needed to either be at the lifeboat with their parents (the number on their wristband) or have the wristband for the lifeboat with their grandparents. So confusing, my main question is why aren’t they all in the same boat!?
As soon as the drill ended, Kristin and I were in the Lido getting lunch, followed by all the passengers because it was about 12:15. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as I thought it’d be since the drill was at 11:45, an odd time for it because it’s the middle of lunch! It was still pretty crowded though, so we teamed up in getting food and drinks so we didn’t have to wait in so many lines, and so we could get to work on time.
This afternoon’s session was good. The kids were really into the games, and now there’s a few more boys so it’s more even. I keep wondering how one of the girls is 10 when she acts 5 or 6. She looks about 6 as well. She’s extremely impatient and doesn’t want to do any of the activities we plan, then complains about being bored. Not quite sure how to handle that just yet. About 20 kids showed up and stayed most of the afternoon. “Pineapples” definitely kept their attention for a while; a few of them actually managed to come up with about 70 words, out of the 130 or so we know! I was impressed.
We had Lights, Camera, Action tonight. We started off with the usual free time, then went on to make stars and play Celebrity Heads. That pretty much kept them all occupied until the end of the night, which was nice.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
embark day in Venice
July 2, 2013: Venice day 2
Embark day. It was kind of an odd day. Kristin told me last night that she was going to get off in the morning and go out until our meeting at 3 and I said I’d come with her since neither of us had to work Open House. She never called me this morning, so after I got up and ready for the day, I ended up crawling back into bed for a nap until lunch.
Meghna and I had lunch together, and Regina came by (HAL Cats vocalist from the Zuiderdam, she embarked today), so I sat with her after Meghna left. Then Jessie came! She’d already eaten, but we stayed while Regina finished, and then we took a tour of the ship since Jessie’s buddy was off-ship. We hung out until my meeting at 3. It was the same meeting I’ve had lots of time already, ship safety. They have to refresh us every 90 days, funny considering I go less than 90 days between refreshers since I change ships so often. After the meeting I called up Jessie and we met up for some hot chocolate and catch-up time in the Lido.
After that, I grabbed my stuff from the room and went to dinner, then work. My first cruise with just tweens in 6 months! Leah and I are working together this week. At first it was a bit weird, we both weren’t sure how we worked together, but then it just flowed. We had free time, then assembled everyone in the ‘skate ramp’ to make announcements, had snack, made our Contract of Fun, then just played get to know you games. It was mostly girls, and they didn’t want to leave at the end of the night, so we’ll probably have our hands full all week. But, they’re a good group, it seems like they’re all well-behaved and kind of know how it goes when it comes to ‘kids club.’
Embark day. It was kind of an odd day. Kristin told me last night that she was going to get off in the morning and go out until our meeting at 3 and I said I’d come with her since neither of us had to work Open House. She never called me this morning, so after I got up and ready for the day, I ended up crawling back into bed for a nap until lunch.
Meghna and I had lunch together, and Regina came by (HAL Cats vocalist from the Zuiderdam, she embarked today), so I sat with her after Meghna left. Then Jessie came! She’d already eaten, but we stayed while Regina finished, and then we took a tour of the ship since Jessie’s buddy was off-ship. We hung out until my meeting at 3. It was the same meeting I’ve had lots of time already, ship safety. They have to refresh us every 90 days, funny considering I go less than 90 days between refreshers since I change ships so often. After the meeting I called up Jessie and we met up for some hot chocolate and catch-up time in the Lido.
After that, I grabbed my stuff from the room and went to dinner, then work. My first cruise with just tweens in 6 months! Leah and I are working together this week. At first it was a bit weird, we both weren’t sure how we worked together, but then it just flowed. We had free time, then assembled everyone in the ‘skate ramp’ to make announcements, had snack, made our Contract of Fun, then just played get to know you games. It was mostly girls, and they didn’t want to leave at the end of the night, so we’ll probably have our hands full all week. But, they’re a good group, it seems like they’re all well-behaved and kind of know how it goes when it comes to ‘kids club.’
1 year with HAL
July 1, 2013: Venice
So marks my 1st year with HAL! And what a great way to spend it, on a ship, in Venice!
It was a sea morning, so we had hot chocolate up in the loft while we played Scattegories and Super Mario Bros. It was a nice, quiet-seeming morning. After that, I had lunch and stayed there for a really long time.
People kept coming and going and I stayed the whole time chatting with them since I didn’t know what I was going to do off-ship. Two of the HAL Cats, Tai and Jonny, were there at the end of the lunch rush and we talked for a while and ended up getting off together. We took the ‘people mover’ (aboveground metro with three stops) to the city, and wandered around the streets and over bridges trying to find St Mark’s Square. My camera battery died after two pictures, so Jonny let me use his. I now have lots of pictures of buildings and bridges and gondolas and water.
We looked in a few shops as we wandered, admiring the many different kinds of masks around. No photos allowed in the mask shops though sadly. It was fun hanging out, talking, getting to know one another, and just away for a while. For one of the first times (aside from yesterday in Croatia) it really felt like I was somewhere foreign that I’ve never been before, that I could get lost in while hanging out with friends and laugh about it because it’s all so new and awesome. It’s different from anywhere I’ve been before. I’ll admit though, it is somewhat different than I expected. I expected there to be more water I guess. I always kind of imagined Venice being completely water based, the buildings basically just islands, and the ONLY way to get around on small streets with bridges and boats. There are quite a few streets that aren’t even connected to water though, we walked around for about an hour or so trying to find the Square, and we couldn’t see water for at least half that time. It’s still amazing and beautiful, and there are tons of bridges and water!
Once we found the Square, we walked around for a bit, taking pictures, walking through the market with art and the typical souvenir stuff, and then walked in a circle back to where we started in the Square. The square is a rectangle more so than a square. Running along three sides of it is a huge kind of open mall. Tall buildings with big columns, and walkways, with shops further in. There are also a few restaurants mixed in with the stores, all seating is in the square outside, and there’s a few live bands playing while patrons sit with their coffees and watch all the tourists walk around. The fourth side of the square is taken up by a giant cathedral- I guess it’s St Marks’. There’s a long line of tourists waiting to go in to the cathedral, which has a section that is also a museum. One corner next to the cathedral is a tower of some sort, which tourists can pay to go up. I have no idea of the significance of this tower, and the line for it isn’t nearly as long as the cathedral museum. People at the top were waving down at someone they knew, but when I looked around, no one was waving back, so Jonny, Tai and I waved back at them. I think a few more strangers have pictures of me, waving at them.
Jonny wanted to go to the music store that we’d seen on the way, so we started to make our way back that direction, but ended up getting distracted and going a different way. At least we didn’t have to be back on the ship anytime soon! Tai left to go get some wifi to see if his family was in Venice yet since they’re getting on the ship tomorrow. Jonny and I walked around, taking pictures, talking and admiring Venice and all the gondolas going around. After a while, I saw some familiar shapes sitting at a restaurant and accidently shouted “Club HAL.” April and Leah looked up, so I went to go talk to them for a bit while Jonny talked to one of the cast members I hadn’t noticed who was sitting at one of the other tables. We joined tables and chatted until Leah and April left. Larissa, the dancer, ordered something to eat which made me and Jonny think about food, so we split a pizza before the three of us headed back in the direction of the ship. We found Tai again, as he was heading back to the ship as well and we all caught the ‘people mover’ towards the port. One of teens and his family were in our car, so I spent the ride talking to them.
It had been a nice afternoon, but I’d walked a lot, so was pretty tired by the time I got back to the ship so I took a nap until nearly time for work. Work tonight was good. Most of the teens came. We played card games, foosball, air hockey, they took some group pictures and then the group started to leave. It funnily enough ended up with a group of boys playing Halo, while a group of girls had a dance party on the other side of the room. They were all enjoying themselves though, and didn’t want to separate when I had to kick them out at midnight. I stayed late to put up names on the wall of all the teens next cruise and take down those from this cruise. That took a bit longer than expected, mainly because I had to cut up lots of tape!
So marks my 1st year with HAL! And what a great way to spend it, on a ship, in Venice!
It was a sea morning, so we had hot chocolate up in the loft while we played Scattegories and Super Mario Bros. It was a nice, quiet-seeming morning. After that, I had lunch and stayed there for a really long time.
People kept coming and going and I stayed the whole time chatting with them since I didn’t know what I was going to do off-ship. Two of the HAL Cats, Tai and Jonny, were there at the end of the lunch rush and we talked for a while and ended up getting off together. We took the ‘people mover’ (aboveground metro with three stops) to the city, and wandered around the streets and over bridges trying to find St Mark’s Square. My camera battery died after two pictures, so Jonny let me use his. I now have lots of pictures of buildings and bridges and gondolas and water.
We looked in a few shops as we wandered, admiring the many different kinds of masks around. No photos allowed in the mask shops though sadly. It was fun hanging out, talking, getting to know one another, and just away for a while. For one of the first times (aside from yesterday in Croatia) it really felt like I was somewhere foreign that I’ve never been before, that I could get lost in while hanging out with friends and laugh about it because it’s all so new and awesome. It’s different from anywhere I’ve been before. I’ll admit though, it is somewhat different than I expected. I expected there to be more water I guess. I always kind of imagined Venice being completely water based, the buildings basically just islands, and the ONLY way to get around on small streets with bridges and boats. There are quite a few streets that aren’t even connected to water though, we walked around for about an hour or so trying to find the Square, and we couldn’t see water for at least half that time. It’s still amazing and beautiful, and there are tons of bridges and water!
Once we found the Square, we walked around for a bit, taking pictures, walking through the market with art and the typical souvenir stuff, and then walked in a circle back to where we started in the Square. The square is a rectangle more so than a square. Running along three sides of it is a huge kind of open mall. Tall buildings with big columns, and walkways, with shops further in. There are also a few restaurants mixed in with the stores, all seating is in the square outside, and there’s a few live bands playing while patrons sit with their coffees and watch all the tourists walk around. The fourth side of the square is taken up by a giant cathedral- I guess it’s St Marks’. There’s a long line of tourists waiting to go in to the cathedral, which has a section that is also a museum. One corner next to the cathedral is a tower of some sort, which tourists can pay to go up. I have no idea of the significance of this tower, and the line for it isn’t nearly as long as the cathedral museum. People at the top were waving down at someone they knew, but when I looked around, no one was waving back, so Jonny, Tai and I waved back at them. I think a few more strangers have pictures of me, waving at them.
Jonny wanted to go to the music store that we’d seen on the way, so we started to make our way back that direction, but ended up getting distracted and going a different way. At least we didn’t have to be back on the ship anytime soon! Tai left to go get some wifi to see if his family was in Venice yet since they’re getting on the ship tomorrow. Jonny and I walked around, taking pictures, talking and admiring Venice and all the gondolas going around. After a while, I saw some familiar shapes sitting at a restaurant and accidently shouted “Club HAL.” April and Leah looked up, so I went to go talk to them for a bit while Jonny talked to one of the cast members I hadn’t noticed who was sitting at one of the other tables. We joined tables and chatted until Leah and April left. Larissa, the dancer, ordered something to eat which made me and Jonny think about food, so we split a pizza before the three of us headed back in the direction of the ship. We found Tai again, as he was heading back to the ship as well and we all caught the ‘people mover’ towards the port. One of teens and his family were in our car, so I spent the ride talking to them.
It had been a nice afternoon, but I’d walked a lot, so was pretty tired by the time I got back to the ship so I took a nap until nearly time for work. Work tonight was good. Most of the teens came. We played card games, foosball, air hockey, they took some group pictures and then the group started to leave. It funnily enough ended up with a group of boys playing Halo, while a group of girls had a dance party on the other side of the room. They were all enjoying themselves though, and didn’t want to separate when I had to kick them out at midnight. I stayed late to put up names on the wall of all the teens next cruise and take down those from this cruise. That took a bit longer than expected, mainly because I had to cut up lots of tape!
Monday, July 1, 2013
'ledge-hopping' in Croatia
June 30, 2013: Dubrovnik, Croatia
Today was a great day. We’d actually discussed plans last night, so everyone knew what the plan was. Kristin wanted to go cliff diving, and a few of the others were thinking about it, and the rest of us were going just to watch. So, we agreed to have an early (11:30 as soon as it opened) lunch, then head out at 12 when Viorry got off work (she’s a cadet officer). So, I slept in, got ready and piddled around in the room for a bit before lunch, then had a great lunch of pasta before coming back down to change and get off the ship.
There was a bit of confusion with currency exchange and bus tickets, but we made it to Old Town by 12:45! We wandered around in the Old Town and eventually found one of the places Kristin’s friend had told her about, it was closed so we went to the other one. It was pretty beautiful. We went through the wall surrounding Old Town and the bar and ‘beach’ are were right off the wall. The “beach” area was a lot of rocks, some with flat tops good for sunbathing, and sets of steps down to each level, all the way down to the water. We found a spot, put our stuff down, and most everyone jumped into the water almost immediately. I did manage to get pictures of April, Meghna and Viorry as they were jumping in. We had a fun time just swimming around, jumping off the rocks and taking pictures (Kristin bought an underwater camera the other day, which we used all the film on today). It was a good afternoon just swimming and laying in the sun chatting.
Too soon we had to head back to the ship, so we wandered slowly back through Old Town to the bus stop and made our way back before all aboard.
I didn’t do much the rest of the afternoon. I went through pictures to finally put up when I get a chance next then took a nap. After dinner and some more time going through pictures, I finally got to go to work. Meghna wanted to finish writing letters to all the teens, so she did that in the tween room all night while I ran Casino Night. I didn’t really have to do much for Casino night other than play cards and give chips. They all really enjoyed it. Of course they did, the teens seem to always love Casino night, no matter the group we have. It was a very good night!
Today was a great day. We’d actually discussed plans last night, so everyone knew what the plan was. Kristin wanted to go cliff diving, and a few of the others were thinking about it, and the rest of us were going just to watch. So, we agreed to have an early (11:30 as soon as it opened) lunch, then head out at 12 when Viorry got off work (she’s a cadet officer). So, I slept in, got ready and piddled around in the room for a bit before lunch, then had a great lunch of pasta before coming back down to change and get off the ship.
There was a bit of confusion with currency exchange and bus tickets, but we made it to Old Town by 12:45! We wandered around in the Old Town and eventually found one of the places Kristin’s friend had told her about, it was closed so we went to the other one. It was pretty beautiful. We went through the wall surrounding Old Town and the bar and ‘beach’ are were right off the wall. The “beach” area was a lot of rocks, some with flat tops good for sunbathing, and sets of steps down to each level, all the way down to the water. We found a spot, put our stuff down, and most everyone jumped into the water almost immediately. I did manage to get pictures of April, Meghna and Viorry as they were jumping in. We had a fun time just swimming around, jumping off the rocks and taking pictures (Kristin bought an underwater camera the other day, which we used all the film on today). It was a good afternoon just swimming and laying in the sun chatting.
Too soon we had to head back to the ship, so we wandered slowly back through Old Town to the bus stop and made our way back before all aboard.
I didn’t do much the rest of the afternoon. I went through pictures to finally put up when I get a chance next then took a nap. After dinner and some more time going through pictures, I finally got to go to work. Meghna wanted to finish writing letters to all the teens, so she did that in the tween room all night while I ran Casino Night. I didn’t really have to do much for Casino night other than play cards and give chips. They all really enjoyed it. Of course they did, the teens seem to always love Casino night, no matter the group we have. It was a very good night!
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